Baseball

Drew Kissel blasted a three-run shot in the first game of the doubleheader with Georgetown.

Bat Pats open conference play with split vs. Georgetown

March 11, 2016

Georgetown,
Ky. -- The Patriot baseball team (19-6, 1-0 MSC) opened up
Mid-South Conference play on Friday afternoon when they traveled to Georgetown,
Ky. to begin a three game set with Georgetown (Ky.).

The Patriots won the opener of the series 10-2 to
extend their win streak to nine games, but the Tigers (14-10, 1-1 MSC) put an
end to the winning streak after they won the second game 9-2. The two teams are
back in action on Saturday for a game at 1 p.m. ET at Georgetown.

Senior right-hander, Daniel Lerma gave his team a
solid outing on the mound. The Oxnard, Calif. native fanned six in eight
innings allowing one run on six hits moving to 2-3 on the season. Derek Jones
(Mt. Washington, Ky.) pitched the ninth inning allowing one run.

St. Catharine didn’t score in the first three
innings, but they scored at least one run in the final six innings. Lerma got
some run support when the offense put up one run in the fourth inning. Carlos Cespedes (Santo Domingo, D.R.) drove in the game’s first run with an RBI
single.

The run would be enough for Lerma, but the Patriots
padded that lead with another run in the fifth. After a ground out to open the
inning, Alfredo Bohorquez (Maracaibo, Venezuela) tripled setting up Hector Quinones (Barceloneta, PR) who hit a sac fly to right field.

St. Catharine continued to add to their lead with
two runs in the sixth thanks to the power of Reid Battles (Denton, Texas). With
two outs, Evan Smith (Jacksonville, Fla.) doubled, then Battles took a 1-0
pitch for a ride over the left field fence for a two-run home run.

The Patriots scored three more runs in the seventh thanks
to the long ball. Nicco Lollio (Brownstown, Mich.) reached on a walk, then
Tyler Devine (Harrodsburg, Ky.) followed suite with a single. Drew Kissel
(Jeffersonville, Ind.) then blasted a three-run home run making it 7-0.

Then in the eighth inning the Patriots added two
more runs on four hits. This time it was Hector Quinones who ripped a two-run
double. Georgetown scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings, while
the Patriots tacked on one in the ninth en route to the 10-2 victory.

Bohorquez led the way at the plate with a three-hit
day to go with two runs scored. Kissel and Quinones each finished with three
RBI’s, while Battles collected two RBI’s and Cespedes had one run batted in.
Josh Wenning (Palmyra, Ind.) and Lollio each scored twice.

After collecting 10 runs on 14 hits in the opener,
the Patriot bats fell silent in the second game finishing with just three hits.
Instead it was the Georgetown offense that erupted to the tune of 18 hits en
route to the 9-2 victory to split the twinbill.

Joan Pena (New York, N.Y.) took the loss for the
Patriots falling to 4-1 on the year. Pena tossed just three innings allowing
five runs on nine hits. Tyler Jones (Huntington Beach, Calif.) pitched one
inning allowing three runs – two earned – on four hits. James Davenport
(Louisville, Ky.) tossed the final two innings allowing one run on five hits.

After the Tigers scored three in the second inning
and two in the third inning, the Patriots finally got on the board in the
fourth inning when they scored two runs. Hector Quinones belted his third home
run of the season, while Nicco Lollio later scored on an error.

Georgetown battled right back in the bottom of the
fourth inning when they scored three runs. They also scored a single run in the
fifth inning, while the Patriots struggled against the Tigers’ starter Joe
Fernandez. Fernandez fanned 10 in his seven innings of work on the bump.